Race

Miaoli County Officials Questioned Over Ugandan Students Forced to Work in Factories

Brian Hioe
Miaoli county Labor and Youth Development deputy head Tu Jung-hui was questioned by police earlier this month in connection with Ugandan students at the Chung Chou University in Changhua forced to work in factories. The investigation was carried out by the Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office and the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau’s Taichung Office...
August 2022EnglishLaborPoliticsRaceSocial Movements5 min read

Indigenous Representatives Criticize Executive Yuan Report on Asia Cement Mine

Brian Hioe
A report by the Executive Yuan on the Asia Cement mine on Indigenous land in Taroko Gorge has led to backlash from Indigenous community representatives, after the findings of the report were that there was not any illegal activity in the land leases for mine. The report’s conclusions have been criticized as reflecting a certain political viewpoint, as well as being contradictory to the report itself. Issues have also been raised with the writing process for the report. Asia Cement is a subsidiary of Far Eastern Group, one of Taiwan’s largest conglomerates...
EnglishEnvironmentalFebruary 2022RaceSocial Movements5 min read

Presidential Office Criticized Over New Year’s Performance by Indigenous Groups

Brian Hioe
Indigenous groups have been critical after a performance held by the Presidential Office as part of new year’s celebrations. In particular, the performance featured five performers that were supposedly dressed as Amis Indigenous, singing traditional songs. Nevertheless, Indigenous groups such as the Indigenous Youth Front have criticized this performance as an act of cultural appropriation, seeing as the clothing worn by the performers was not authentic to cultural customs, appeared to be cheaply rented costumes, and the songs performed fit Han stereotypes regarding Indigenous traditional music...
EnglishIndigenousJanuary 2022RaceSocial Movements5 min read

Protests Continue Against Zhiben Solar Farm on Katratripulr Land in August and September

Brian Hioe
Protests regarding the Zhiben photovoltaic farm took place again late last month, with demonstrations against a government survey of the land that the farm is planned to be built on. These protests were not widely reported on, however, probably due to the fact that they took place in Taitung. Protests that take place outside of Taipei sometimes fail to receive coverage, with much of the media industry based in Taipei, and because Taiwan is small enough that protesters can frequently travel to Taipei to protest even for local issues. This has not been helped by COVID-related stories still continuing to take up a large part of the news cycle...
EnglishEnvironmentalIndigenousRaceSeptember 2021Social Movements5 min read

Party Arrests in Taoyuan Point to Larger Issues Facing Migrant Workers During COVID-19

Brian Hioe
Police cracked down on a party at a Vietnamese restaurant in Taoyuan on Sunday, finding that 102 migrant workers were gathered on the premises. While four of the individuals present were restaurant workers, 98 were customers—most of which were migrant workers. Police found the party while conducting door-to-door inspections, patrolling on the search for runaway migrant workers...
EnglishLaborRaceSeptember 2021Social Movements5 min read